DATE: Thursday, November 6, 1997            TAG: 9711060425

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ALETA PAYNE, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   68 lines

BEACH SCHOOL BOARD PONDERS TOUGHER RULES FOR FUND-RAISING IT MAY VOTE TO STOP INCENTIVES AND CURB DOOR-TO-DOOR SALES BY STUDENTS.

There will be fewer door-to-door candy sales and no more prizes for top wrapping-paper salesmen at city schools if the School Board adopts proposed changes to its fund-raising rules.

Springboarding off a resolution presented by the city's Council of PTAs two weeks ago, the board is considering prohibiting student fund-raisers that use prize incentives to boost sales and forbidding the use of instructional time to promote fund-raising activities.

The proposal also would explicitly prohibit door-to-door sales by elementary and middle school students. Current policy forbids ``neighborhood canvassing'' by those students. The board is expected to vote at its Nov. 18 meeting.

Speaking before the board Tuesday, Eileen Mooring, president of the Christopher Farms Elementary School PTA, said it was the consensus of her organization that ``it is a parental responsibility, not a child's responsibility, to raise funds.''

Mooring said she didn't want to see children pulled out of class ``to be pumped up as Amway salesmen.'' She added that prize incentives undermine the concept of having young people work for the benefit of the community.

Some parents who addressed the board acknowledged the need for fund-raising, but said it could be done without outside sales and without risking the well-being of kids. They suggested family-oriented events such as carnivals.

School fund raising has become a fact of life in many communities where the money is used to subsidize everything from computers to field trips. Schools can bring in up to $90,000 per year with several high-powered fund-raisers, according to Tidewater District PTA.

But the National PTA, state and local chapters, have strongly discouraged fund-raisers, particularly those involving private venture companies.

The suggested changes come on the heels of the sexual assault and murder of an 11-year-old New Jersey boy who disappeared while selling door-to-door for a school fund-raiser. Board member Nancy Guy emphasized that the proposal was not a knee-jerk reaction to the New Jersey situation, but an opportunity to make necessary changes.

``We have a situation that is out of control,'' she said.

Guy said there had been at least three instances this year of students attending fund-raising related assemblies during the instructional day.

``By any standard . . . this is wrong,'' she said.

Her remarks echoed those of several speakers who had addressed the board earlier in the evening.

``Is there any fund-raiser worth jeopardizing the life of a single child?'' asked Jane Brooks, immediate past president of the Beach Council of PTAs.

A representative of one of the companies that provides products for school fund-raisers warned the board, however, that eliminating the prize incentives would cut into the schools' profits. Frank Trebon, of the Winning Edge in Virginia Beach, emphasized that his organization has never encouraged door-to-door sales. But he also said fund raising can give students a sense of pride in their accomplishments.

The loss of prize incentives doesn't necessarily hurt efforts, however. Prizes haven't been allowed for John B. Dey Elementary's annual fund-raiser at least since the arrival of Elizabeth Taylor as principal four years ago. She felt the incentives promoted an inappropriate competition between the young people.

In addition, Dey students are told not to go door-to-door and that rule is part of the school handbook, Taylor said. Last year, the school cleared $13,000 with its wrapping paper fund-raiser.

``We're very successful with our fund raising. It just hasn't been a problem,'' she said. ``We seem to make a pretty good profit without incentive sales.''

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